"Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all," an old adage states. Elder Gene R. Cook of the Quorum of the Seventy, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, repeated it in an 1981 talk — "Gossip: Satan's Snare." He also cautioned: "If you are one of those who think it permissible to tell white lies, you may soon find yourself color-blind."

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there are three types of lies and only one does harm — "An officious, or white, lie is such that it does nobody any injury: it is a lie of excuse, or a lie told to benefit somebody. An injurious lie is one which does harm."

The Catholic faith lists a third type of lie — a "jocose" one — told jokingly for entertainment purposes.

Both in doctrine and in person, area religious leaders advise caution in any case.

"I don't know if I'd ever advise someone to lie," the Rev. Art Ritter of Salt Lake's First Congregational Church said earlier this week, adding that doing so creates a slippery slope. He added, however, that withholding information — if it's painful — is warranted at times.

"Truth is what every Christian ought to be committed to" and no Christian should ever deceive someone unless it involves protecting life itself or some other precious cause, said Rev. Mike Gray of Salt Lake's Southeast Baptist Church.

Gray believes there's always a way to find the positive in things — such as a wife's dress that a husband might dislike, or not shooting down a child's dismal performance — and thus avoid lying by taking a different approach.

The Rev. Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City said he believes a white lie is a kind of practical bending of the truth to spare feelings. "As long as nobody gets hurt."

Goldsmith said white lies can save friendships and relationships — critically important parts of life — and there's nothing wrong with that. "If you were honest about everything, you would not have a friend in the world."

The late Elder Howard W. Hunter, eventually an LDS Church President, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1978 when he asked church members: "Is there any difference in principle between a little white lie and the perjury of a witness in a court of law or before a congressional investigative committee under oath? Are there really degrees of dishonesty, depending upon whether or not the subject is great or small?"

The late Elder Delbert L. Stapley, a former member of the Quorum of the Twelve in the LDS Church hit on a key component of honesty in a 1971 talk: "It seems honesty must being honest with oneself; otherwise we could not recognize this quality in others. We see things not as they are, but as we are."

One former LDS bishop said white lies geared to avoid hurt feelings are all a part of being "tactful."